Sunday, December 30, 2007

Ugly Gun Sunday





A counterpoint to Xavier's Smith & Wesson barbecue gun. While I actually wouldn't call this gun ugly, since the artwork is well executed, I would call it odd.



This post will mark the last (temporarily) ugly gun post here for an indefinate period. Xavier has graciously agreed to continue finding outstanding examples of bad taste, and post them for the rest of us to appreciate. Thanks Xavier!



Posting will resume when I have access to the internet and the Army security systems allow access.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Last Day At Work



In which the pantheon of radiology gods crapped all over me. As our major exam physicians are on vacation, we've reduced staffing for the week, rotating days off. Except that the person I was supposed to work with today was practicing her dinosaur calls in the bathroom all night, so I was called in the early morning for the purpose of being told to get my butt in ASAP as there were patients waiting, and no tech. Followed by a dog pile of unscheduled exams tacked on by various doctors wanting the exams done Right Now, cause its Friday, and they don't want to be here late. Followed by the Amazing Surprise Patient who showed up at the desk for an exam that nobody in his doctor's office bothered to mention to us last week when they told him to show up. Followed by the lice-infested patient. Followed by the last-minute abscess drain that the floor had known about for the last six hours. Followed by the working around the moderately controlled schizophrenia symptoms for a catheter placement. Followed by getting to be on-call tonight, and maybe tomorrow, depending on tonight's retch factor for the originally scheduled tech.

Sixteen hours on sitting in a plane bound for Egypt isn't looking all that bad tonight.

And what kind of man puts a toupee on his monkey?

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Is Anyone Actually Surprised By This?



I'm somewhat suprised it took this long. In a nation that's currently the most pro-jihad area outside Saudi, I thought she'd be dead in less than a week after getting off the plane. I don't expect to see another female head of state in Pakistan in my lifetime. More photos over at Free Market Fairy Tales.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!



I hope everyone had as pleasant a Christmas as I've had. Lots of positive family interaction, way too much food, the better part of a Sam Adam's winter sampler twelve-pack, cards from friends & family, and some very thoughtful gifts. Which, speaking of cards, apparently some people are offended when Christmas cards mention the Christian faith. So upset they feel the need to bring it up on their nationally televised kitchen gossip chat show.
What happened to all that love and understanding for everyone that comes with being a dedicated multi-culturist? Gotta love that insightful, well-reasoned statement: "Don't you think it's interesting the President of all the people is sending out a religious Christmas card?" I'm really looking forward to the outrage when she gets an Easter card mentioning the Resurrection. "Can you believe this? What's the President doing dragging religion into a celebration of the Easter Bunny?"

(disclosure note: I'm personally an atheist, albeit one who bases his ethical practices on my Protestant roots, and apparently appreciates the role of Christianity in Western culture more than a number of people who are nominally Christians. And given my choice, I prefer Christians; they've overwhelmingly moved past killing people for different beliefs a long time ago, and most of the atheists I've met seem to be sour, left-leaning individuals.)

Hat tip to MsUnderestimated.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Sunday Ugly Gun Post



The very first Thompson-Center Contender......OK, so maybe not. For those less acquainted with old military hardware, we have a bobbed Mosin-Nagant in what appears to be a hand-sawn stock made from an old 2x6. I'd think its safe to assume the chambering is still 7.62 x 54, which would give an impressive muzzle flash and some wicked recoil on firing.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Just One More Wafer Thin Mint......



There's a reason why you can find a higher percentage of fat people on the hospital staff than the general population. Odd (if any) times for meals, picking what's available immediately, eating late at home after a double shift, and above all, having obscene amounts of starch/refined sugar/fat laden foods at hand. Today, in a department staffed with eight people, the following was sitting behind our nursing desk: cinnamon rolls, meat & cheese tray, assorted chocolates, a 12 x 18 inch roasting pan of home made cookies/sweets/sugar-coated stuff, and four different types of cheesecake. At the rate we're going, I expect to find a hog on a spit back there by Monday.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

One More For The Road: Model 1895 Nagant




Another impulse buy. If I'm within 60 miles of a gunshow, I might as well just pull money out of the ATM and go first thing. I managed to restrain myself until Sunday afternoon for this one, but when I actually had to run an errand where I was within a quarter mile of the show, I couldn't resist any longer. This particular revolver was made in 1931, and has been nicely government refinished. It took me a bit to figure out the ejection system on this piece, as most of my revolvers were made after the 1950s, and are considerably more user friendly. Unfortunately I won't have time to order up factory ammo for it before I leave, and given the prices, I'll probably end up using cast bullet handloads when I get home. Something to look forward to, and a way to burnish the reputation at the gun club as "that guy who shoots that weird foreign crap".

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

I Hate Winter


I got a phone call at work from The Wife today that we had water coming leaking in part of the flat roof on our addition. That was at 11:30 in the morning. When I got home at 11:00 PM from work, I got to squeeze through a second story window to see what was going on. Which was four inches of snow on top of three to eight inches of ice. Couldn't break it with the shovel, couldn't break it with a sledge hammer. Tomorrow, we'll see what happens with the fifty pounds of ice melt on it.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Sunday Ugly Gun Post



I think the wood on this one is just odd. It looks like the owner couldn't decide if he wanted some type of early benchrest rifle, or wanted a hunting rifle with sling swivels and express sights, so he did both. I'd guess this was somewhat uncomfortable to carry in the field for any length of time.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Moonbat Spotting

Found parked next to my gas-guzzling, environmentally unfriendly Jeep:




Not seen in this photo: The Prius hybrid logo on the side of the vehicle. I didn't wait around to see if the owner had Birkenstocks, hemp clothing, and a ponytail.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Ugly Gun Sunday


This is what happens when you think aesthetics is something they give you during surgery.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Getting Short....


to getting back in uniform for an extended period. During last weekend's drill my departure date was updated to a nearer date. I'll be in at least three different states before heading overseas, then over to another desert. Fortunately, they actually issued me two sets of uniforms and various basic gear. Unfortunately, I still have no field gear, including cold weather equipment, so I have to cross my fingers and hope the state is on the ball before I go. Otherwise, I'll be running around in a mixed lot of obsolete gear every time the temp drops below sixty degrees.


Since time is so short, I've been going through a list of tasks "suggested" by the wife, including having the garage completely squared away. Which is how I've spent most of today, except for finally changing the oil in the bike; it's not too bad draining the old oil once the engine is warmed up, but at nine degrees above zero, pouring the new oil is sloooooooooow when it's left in the garage. Once I park it for storage, that's it until spring 2009. A year without riding. Yay.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Sunday Ugly Gun Post


Sorry I'm late....Guard drill in a town much further away than usual combined with freezing rain this weekend screwed the schedule. Anyhoo....
1950s kitsch stock styling combined with 1980s survivalist supressor combined with 1990s massively oversized scope equals.....three decades of bad taste.